‘I don’t believe life has a purpose. Life is a lot of protoplasm with an urge to reproduce and continue in being… but each incarnation, you might say, has a potentiality, and the mission of life is to live that potentiality.’
Joseph Campbell is an incredible storyteller, spiritual guru, philosopher, academic (comparative religion & comparative mythology), writer, etc etc. Another old dead guy with a wicked sense of humour that I’m sure I would have fallen for in his day.
So “How do you do it?” you may ask. How do you live your life to it’s potential?
Campbell’s advice is: “Follow the bliss.”
‘There’s something inside you that knows when you’re in the center, that knows when you’re on the beam or off the beam. And if you get off the beam to earn money, you’ve lost your life. And if you stay in the cneter and don’t get any money, you still have your bliss.’ [1]
P284-5 Campbell, Joseph, The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (New York: Doubleday, 1988).
And if your bliss is making money?
Hmmm… you got me.
Can money and the things money buys be blissful in and of themselves? Can you buy bliss? Can watching your bank account digits go up be your bliss? I guess maybe for some people they can.
But if you seek money as your bliss, won’t you will always be seeking more? Is it possible to be simultaneously unsatisfied and in a state of bliss? Or is that an oxymoron? You tell me!